Agenda #7
memorandum
to: Mayor and Town Council
from: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
subject: Follow Up Report - Proposed Process for Development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road Neighborhood
date: January 23, 2006
The purpose of this report is to provide additional information requested by the Council at its January 12, 2006 Planning Session regarding the proposed process for development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road neighborhood.
The attached resolution would appoint members of the Council to initiate discussion with elected officials from the Town of Carrboro and Orange County regarding a Small Area Plan process for the Rogers Road neighborhood, including the Greene Tract, and request that the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners appoint representatives for this purpose.
At the Planning Session on January 12, 2006, the Council discussed a proposed process for development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road neighborhood. At that time, we informed the Council that we would return on January 23, 2006 with a resolution to begin this process.
Council Members agreed to ask elected officials from Carrboro and Orange County to participate in a multi-jurisdictional approach for development of a plan. The attached resolution would request that Carrboro and Orange County participate in this multi-jurisdictional process. The Council indicated a desire to begin planning for the area in July.
The Council also asked the staff to provide additional information on two issues:
Proposed Timeline
We recommend that the Committee of elected officials begin to meet as soon as possible to agree upon a proposed process, participants in the process, and joint staff work. If Carrboro and Orange County agree to participate in a multi-jurisdictional process, the Council requested that the process begin in July 2006 as originally scheduled. At the Planning Session, the Council also encouraged a multi-jurisdictional approach that would take no more than 18 months to complete.
Greene Tract Conservation Easement
The Greene Tract is a 164-acre parcel owned jointly by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. An Interlocal Agreement from 1999 and amended in 2000, provides guidelines for division of the property located at the eastern terminus of Purefoy Road, adjacent the railroad.
A Greene Tract Work Group that included representatives of all the parties to the Interlocal Agreement began meeting in 2001 to discuss the proposed basic uses of affordable housing, open space and recreation space. Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County adopted resolutions supporting these basic uses in concept:
Included in the Work Group’s resolution of June 26, 2002, was a recommendation that the open space area “should be protected by a conservation easement transferred first between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2005. The conservation easement would protect the land in perpetuity.” To date, the conservation easement has not been executed. According to the Interlocal Agreement, once a conservation easement is approved by the three parties, reimbursement to the Solid Waste/Landfill Enterprise Fund would begin. Chapel Hill’s interest would be approximately $363,892 as we understand it.
We will work with the managers in Carrboro and Orange County to determine options and a schedule for proceeding.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution appointing members of the Council to initiate discussions with elected officials from Carrboro and Orange County regarding a Small Area Plan process for the Rogers Road neighborhood, including the Greene Tract, and requesting that the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners appoint representatives for this purpose.